At a Town Meeting Wednesday, residents voted overwhelmingly to let the commission proceed with its plan to purchase 28.8 acres of open space off Old Stagecoach Road for $825,0000 of commission money.

The vote ends a lengthy negotiation between the commission, the town and Vincent Pelliccione, one of the owners of the land, which sits on a ridgeline across from Ridgefield High School.

"I've been working on this for four years,'' said commission member Ben Oko.

The town also approved an amendment that in the future will allow the commission to sell 3 acres of that land as a housing lot.

That land faces Ledges Road. While connected to the remaining 25.8 acres, it is separated by a steep ledge in the rear of the lot.

"It doesn't really connect to the rest of the open space,'' Oko said.

Oko acknowledged Wednesday that the Conservation Commission is normally not in the real estate business. It plans to preserve the remaining 25.8 acres as open space in perpetuity, he said.

But he said the purchase of the ridgeline property will deplete the commission's bank account.

"It took us about 15 years of donations to get that money,'' Oko said of the $825,000. "We are about to become flat broke.''

Having the option to sell the lot, Oko said, would give the commission a sort of backup. If an extremely valuable piece open space were to go on the market, Oko said, the commission could sell the 3 acres on Ledges Road as a housing lot, and use the money from the sale toward buying the more valuable land.

Because the town would get to approve or disapprove such a sale at a Town Meeting, town residents would have a safeguard to protect the 3 acres from misuse.

"That gives me as much comfort as it does you,'' Oko said. "We want to proceed with complete transparency.''

First Selectman Rudy Marconi admitted to having some qualms about the possibility of selling the 3 acres, fearing it might set a precedent that would frighten off people who want to donate open space to the town.

Selectman Di Masters pointed out protected open space is across the street from the 3 acres on Ledges Road. One of the goals of the Conservation Commission has been to create contiguous open space, Masters said.

Helen Dimos, Oko's wife, spoke from the audience, admitting that she too, would prefer to see the Ledges Road land stay undeveloped.

"A lot of the development along Ledges Road has been wrecked," she said. "It would be nice to keep that land as a ledge.''

However, Dimos said, the town will have the right to stop any development on the Ledges Road land in the future.

"It seems like it's not a big deal,'' she said.

Local real estate agent Paul Camoia was, as he has been, the voice of opposition to the entire deal.

Camoia said the land is now overvalued, and not worth the $825,000 the commission wants to spend on it. He also said it's about to go into foreclosure.

"If the town waits, it could purchase it for a lot less,'' Camoia said.